James Franco Performs His Own Obama Inauguration Poem [Video]

James Franco has written a poem to commemorate the day of President Barack Obama’s inauguration, and you can scroll down to the foot of the page to watch him read it too.

The poem is entitled “Obama In Asheville” and mentions the likes of Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and Claire Danes plus also references Francis Ford Coppola’s classic 1979 war film, Apocalypse Now, as well as a burrito.

One of Franco’s lines also recalls the moment when he and Obama first came across each other, proclaiming, “He knew me from Spider-Man.”

Yahoo News commissioned Franco to write this inaugural poem for Obama, alongside four other writers. Pulitzer Prize winners James Tate and Paul Muldoon created “Dear Mr. President” and “For Barack Obama: his second inauguration,” respectively, whilst Brenda Shaughnessy wrote “To President Obama” on his second inauguration and Kevin Young scribed “Oath.” You can view each poem on Yahoo News’ website.

Discussing their decision to hire these writers, Yahoo stated, “Surveying the short history of presidential verse, Yahoo news began to wonder what would happen if inaugural poets might be inspired to raise their games. Without exactly staging a poetry slam, we turned to some of our favorite living poets: Would they compose something for Obama this time around?”

President Obama’s inauguration occurred in Washington, D.C., on January 21. It featured Beyonce Knowles, accompanied by the US Marine Band, singing “The Star Spangled Banner,” whilst Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor also sang at the event.